Last week our attention focused on the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth. This week our focus is on Him as the Spirit of holiness.
Romans 1:4 reminds us Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”
This description has resulted in the common name by which we most often refer to Him, namely as the Holy Spirit.
We might say He is the Spirit of holiness in a double sense, one of which relates to His being and the other to His ministry.
As to His being, God’s Spirit is holy. Holiness is part of the very essence of the Third Person of the Trinity. In His three Persons, God possesses moral perfection, being entirely free of evil. Father, Son and Spirit have always been holy and will forever be holy, both in character and conduct.
Always holy
What the Holy Spirit is in His essence, He also is when He indwells forgiven sinners. We do not contaminate the Spirit by our imperfections. We may resist Him, grieve Him or dishonor Him, but His holiness remains intact.
As to His ministry, God’s Spirit seeks to make us persons of holiness. Hebrews 12:14 exhorts us to “pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”
The inherent holiness that characterizes God’s Spirit is the source and agency of holiness in God’s children.
We often term progress in holiness as sanctification. When a sinner is saved, that believer is sanctified in the sense of being counted holy positionally, that is in God’s sight. Thus the designation “saints” applies to imperfect- yet-forgiven sinners.
Ever at work
First Corinthians 1:2 addresses its original readers as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” But when we read the rest of the book, we learn the Corinthian Christians were far from perfect. They had numerous faults that still needed correction, yet they were addressed as saints.
Positional sanctification is only the beginning. As imperfect believers, we are being sanctified experientially as we walk in the Spirit and grow more and more into the likeness of God.
We will be sanctified ultimately when we reach full conformity to Christ in future glorification. Meanwhile, the Spirit of holiness is at work in our lives for the progression of what will reach completion in our heavenly future.
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